Siren's Ring
by whoa nellie
Summary: While excavating ancient ruins, Vash's team finds an alien piece of jewelry. Who could guess that one ring would cause so much trouble.


Title: Siren's Ring

Author: Whoa Nellie

Rating: PG-13

Codes: P/V

Summary: While excavating ancient ruins, Vash's team finds a piece of alien jewelry. Who could guess that one ring would lead to so much trouble?

Author's notes: This occurs in the Reasons of the Heart timeline. Feel free to archive to any pertinent site.

As always: Paramount owns all the marbles, we just have a lot more fun playing with them.

Feedback is always appreciated - posted or e-mail.

"Captain's log; theEnterprise is in orbit around Syndryn, an uninhabited class M planet. Some minor archaeological finds on the planet have hinted that the planet was once home to a thriving civilization and recent seismic upheaval has revealed the ruins of a large, ancient city. Needless to say, the ship's archaeology and anthropology departments are eager to explore these new finds; however, it is my judgment that the seismic disturbances which revealed the lost city also endanger the safety of any team sent to investigate. Considering that the teams would most likely consist of several civilians, I find I cannot authorize an away mission unless a means can be found to stabilize the planet. I will undoubtedly be meeting with the ship's chief archaeologist shortly to discuss my decision in greater depth." 

XXXXXXXX

Karita Leigh pushed a stray lock of her dark hair back into place before nervously smoothing her hands down the sides of her skirt. She would have much preferred to be back in the lab working on her dissertation rather than on the turbolift heading to the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

"Everything looks in order for the dig," ship's archaeologist Vash Picard commented as she handed the PADD back to her young assistant.

"I thought the dig had been postponed until further notice," Karita noted.

"Because of mon capitaine's decree from on high," Vash gestured toward the ceiling of the lift. "Don't worry, I'm going to fix that."

"On the bridge . . . wouldn't it be better to discuss it privately with the captain in your office." Try as she might, Karita couldn't keep the hesitation out of her voice.

"If I teach you one thing it will be that to effectively beard the lion you must be willing to challenge him in his den where he feels his power is the strongest," Vash teased with a smile. "Trust me, Karita, Jean-Luc's proclamations are not issued from burning bushes nor are they etched in stone tablets."

"Yes, Professor."

"Although, feel free to believe mine are," Vash added just as the lift doors opened to the bridge.

Hearing the lift doors open, Picard stood from his command chair and turned to watch Vash and her assistant step off of the lift and onto the bridge. Vash was dressed for battle--battle with him. With her hair perfectly coifed to frame her delicate features, she was dressed in a softly-tailored blue suit that brought out the color of her blue eyes while skimming her feminine curves and setting off her long shapely legs. "Ladies, I was expecting you an hour ago. I'm afraid the scones are quite cold by now."

"Well then I guess I'll just get right to the point," Vash replied strolling nonchalantly down to stand in front of him. She gazed up at him and continued, "Captain, I'm sure you, of all people, understand the possible significance of the find on the planet below."

"Yes, Professor, I understand the possible significance of the find and even share your anticipation of exploring it."

She had to get him into a defensive posture quickly and there was one guaranteed way to do it. "As long as your anticipation isn't the urge to blow it up as you seem to enjoy doing with significant archaeological finds."

He ignored the reference to his 'litany of archaeological sins' as she called it. "I will not authorize an away mission unless a means can be found to stabilize the planet. In my judgment the possible threat of more earthquakes poses too much of a danger," he informed her adding to himself silently, 'Your lovely doe-eyes not withstanding.'

"Those types of occupational hazards are possible while excavating any site," she contended. After all, both of their chosen careers held an element of risk.

The unbidden memory of his unconscious wife gravely injured on a cave floor caused Picard's posture to stiffen slightly and his voice to tighten. "Those occupational hazards-- caused by nearly identical seismic activity-- nearly killed you on Yadalla Prime."

With 'Captain Overprotective' rearing his head, Vash tossed her hair while quipping flippantly, "I got better."

Karita was awe struck watching this clash of the titans. While Captain Picard's demeanor became more authoritative, her boss responded by becoming even more brazenly combative. Her thoughts were interrupted by Commander Data's voice.

"Captain," the android officer turned from his station to face his commanding officer.

"Yes, Mr. Data," the captain answered, grateful for the diversion.

"I have been considering the situation and I believe I have a solution. On Drema IV it was possible to deploy probes with resonators creating powerful vibrations in the underground geological strata, thus stabilizing the planetary conditions. With some modifications to the probes, it should be possible to do the same here."

"Yes," Vash crowed triumphantly.

Ignoring his wife for the moment, Picard asked, "how long will this take?"

"Approximately sixteen hours, sir."

"Karita, let Dr. Guillermo know the team will be assembling tomorrow morning at nine sharp in transporter room two," Vash directed her young assistant. She turned her attention back to Jean-Luc moving in even closer to him. "With your permission, of course."

"Of course," Picard replied with a habitual tug on the hem of his uniform jacket. She held his gaze for a long moment, the sensual heat emanating from her eyes and the sultry tone of her voice seemed to raise the bridge temperature ten degrees. She was standing close enough that he could smell the softly-scented combination of roses, violets, and lavender of her favorite perfume. "Was there something else you wanted?"

"Oh God, yes," Vash uttered under her breath so only Jean-Luc could hear. Standing on the bridge, he was every inch the consummate starship captain, Starfleet's legendary hero. It was the timeless allure of a man in uniform. She took a step back and smiled her eyes sparkling with victory. "I have what I came for; you can breathe easy, Captain. I'm leaving your bridge now."

Vash motioned to Karita and they headed toward the turbolift. Picard's gaze followed Vash's shapely legs and the delightful sway of her hips as she left his bridge. He knew his first officer was standing behind him trying to hide a smirk. That was the same smirk he had on his face the first time Picard had found Vash sitting comfortably in his command chair onboard the Enterprise D. It was also the same smirk Riker tried to hide every time Vash was on the bridge. As both men took their seats, Picard sighed, "Number One . . ."

"I know; me, that infernal shore leave on Risa and that damned horga'hn," Riker answered good- naturedly. That was a jest the captain often employed when the lovely and irrepressible Mrs. Picard made an appearance while they were on duty.

"Precisely."

"Captain, I apologize if my suggestion was ill-timed," Data acknowledged.

"No, Data. The find on the planet may be quite significant and despite what she might think, I do not enjoy caging my wife up on the ship while denying her one of her treasure hunts," the captain replied.

From his station at tactical, security chief Commander Geoff Lar piped in, "You do realize we just sent the Queen Bee back to her lab in triumph."

With a glint in his eyes, Riker turned to his captain. "There'll be no living with her after this."

XXXXXX

That evening, Picard made his way to his quarters with Vash's afternoon visit still on his mind. He knew it had to be his imagination, but he would have sworn that the delicate scent of her perfume had lingered in the air the rest of the afternoon. He had tried focusing his attention on the issues surrounding the site on Syndryn; however, it only served to bring to mind the triumphant gleam in Vash's eyes when she gave him that 'gotcha' smile before leaving the bridge. Entering the quarters, he found Vash sitting on the couch reading a PADD--most likely reviewing the literature on past Syndryn finds. With her suit jacket casually tossed on nearby chair, she idly fingered the skin bared from where she had undone the first three buttons of her silk blouse.

Realizing that she had heard the door, Vash looked up to see Jean-Luc standing there. She set aside the PADD. "Oh, you're home."

"Yes, chere, I'm home." Picard leveled an expectant gaze at his wife a hint of affectionate exasperation tingeing his voice, "Would you care to explain your little performance on my bridge this afternoon?"

"What is there to explain? The ship's chief archaeologist had urgent business that required the captain's attention," she offered blithely while enjoying the way his Starfleet uniform emphasized his sleek, muscular build.

"Vash."

She gave a slight shrug of her shoulders, "Why does everyone always assume that I'm up to something. You know, if I asked for a cup of coffee, someone would search for the double entendre."

"Mae West may not be the best person to paraphrase while feigning innocence," he advised.

Vash gave a slight capitulating laugh, "Alright, I admit I'm still working with Karita on that whole 'her being in awe of the Starfleet officers thing' so I brought her along to see the show."

"To see the show . . . the show on my bridge . . . now, we're getting somewhere." He wagged an accusing finger at her.

"I behaved myself," she professed rising from the couch to seductively saunter across the room toward him using just the perfect amount of sway in her hips; "well, more or less."

"Oh God, yes?" Picard echoed incredulously her earlier statement from the bridge.

"No one heard that," she contended with a dismissive wave of her hand moving to stand just in front of him.

"I heard it," he muttered.

Reaching out to trace leisurely circles around the rank pips on the collar of his burgundy uniform tunic with a fingertip, she purred in a passion-laced voice, "it's not like I said, oh God, yes, take me now, big boy!"

"That was the insinuation." It had been that insinuation which had kept the captain's imagination racing at warp speed for the rest of the day.

"You know I always did like a man in uniform and that one fits you grand." With another homage to Mae West, Vash deliberately trailed her finger down the front of his uniform jacket. He was right, that was exactly what she had been insinuating. The sight of him on the bridge, the aura of power and masculine virility that were part of his commanding presence, always made her go weak in the knees. "Besides, I'm a firm believer in put out or shut up."

"The saying is put up or shut up," Picard corrected, determinedly not sucking in his breath as her teasing fingertip reached the waistline of his trousers.

"Says you." Vash slid her arms around his waist. She captured his mouth with hers in a fiercely, passionate kiss and her tongue stole between his parted lips to plunder the depths of the warm, moist cavern. She arched against him, molding her body to his hard, lean form and crushing her breasts against the muscular wall of his chest. His soft groan was intimate music to her ears and sent a shiver of need racing through her entire body. They were both out of breath when she finally broke the kiss. "My version is a lot more fun."

With a steadying breath, he took a step back. "Of that there is little doubt, however that was not what we were discussing."

"Were we discussing something?" she inquired playfully. Quickly going on the offensive, her hands proceeded down his jacket deftly unfastening each clasp.

"Your little performance on my bridge this afternoon," he prompted as his jacket hit the floor. He found his attention drawn to the sensual sight of her slender, feminine fingers working the fasteners of his tunic.

Stripping his tunic from him, she tossed it to a nearby chair. Her hands skimmed upward along his arms lingering of their own accord on the solid, bulging biceps of his upper arms. "Oh that."

"It's not nice to tease and tempt the ship's captain while he's on the bridge," he chided, his voice huskier than it had been just moments earlier.

"Did I tempt the captain during my visit to the bridge?" Vash peered up at him through her lashes.

"You know damn well you did," Picard muttered hoarsely.

Hearing his answer sent a naughty thrill racing through her. The idea that she could effect this man on his own bridge that way gave her a heady sensation of power. Shamelessly, she goaded him even further, "and just what exactly was the captain tempted to do?"

"This," his voice was a low, bedroom baritone. Reaching out with one arm, he entangled his hand in the silky hair at the back of Vash's head pulling her into a deeply impassioned kiss. His tongue ardently delved into every corner of her mouth savoring the sweet taste. Breaking the  
kiss, he effortlessly swept her up and carried her toward their bedroom. "And then this."

XXXXXX

Late the next morning, Lieutenant Kennely stood inside a building on the edge of an ancient city-state. He studied the sword-wielding warriors on the elaborate mural that covered the top half of the large stone door in front of him and noted, "the garments they're wearing remind me of a skirt of tasses worn by a Roman Legionnaire."

"Well, according to the first few lines of this text they had an equivalent function to the Roman Legionnaires," Karita gestured under the mural to the alien text she had been translating. Pivoting to face the stone door on the opposite wall, she pointed at the mural of a beautiful queen on a throne with warriors bowing in front of her. "Sworn in service to her."

Kennely turned his attention to the mural on the opposing stone door. The queen's lavish gown looked as though liquid obsidian glass had been poured over her and rays of light radiated from a ring on the hand she held up. For a fleeting moment, he allowed himself to imagine such a gown molding itself to the voluptuous curves of the petite, dark haired beauty standing next to him. With a suave smile, he bantered, "once you've finished translating the text, I'd be very interested in knowing just how they swore to service her."

Karita felt her face go prickly hot and was unable to look at the handsome Starfleet officer. She stammered, "ummm . . . I . . . I'll let you know."

Vash glanced up from translating the text on the door, amused by her security officer's attempt at flirting and her assistant's flustered reaction. She glanced back at the pair. "I can help you with that, Mr. Kennely; however, I'm not sure you'll like the answer. The text seems to indicate that, as was common in many cultures, the upper levels of this culture's royal guards were eunuchs."

This time it was Kennely who felt flustered. "As in . . ."

"As in snippity-do-dah," Vash quipped with a chuckle. She turned to Chakotay and gestured back to the stone door, "If this is indeed a sepulcher site, then behind this would most likely be the tomb."

"Agreed; I'm not seeing any warnings or curses in the text dealing disturbing the site. I wonder if that's a good sign or a bad sign?" Chakotay wondered aloud.

"I guess we'll find out," Vash replied.

"You ready to try opening it up?" Chakotay looked down at the archaeologist.

"Karita?" Vash inquired without glancing back at her assistant.

The young woman scanned the door with her tricorder. "I'm getting a very low-level energy reading, barely registering. No biotoxins and the air is breathable."

"Let's do it." Vash reached out toward the door until Kennely's voice stopped her.

"Whoa Nellie! Are we sure that won't trip explosives, a building collapse, poison darts, spikes or other sorts of freaky, ancient booby traps?"

"We've detected no evidence of anything as dramatic as a booby trap, freaky or non-freaky," Vash replied, sounding mildly disappointed.

"It's all right, Lieutenant," Chakotay assured the young officer before teasing Vash. "The man is just doing his job, making sure you live through the day."

"Which is no easy task," Kennely added wryly.

"I represent that remark," Vash chuckled. Carefully placing her hands on two of the half dozen raised alien icons on the door, she pressed down firmly. There was an audible clank and the sound of rushing air when the seal broke on the immense stone door. Motioning for Chakotay to help her push the door, she sang out, "voila."

"You never get tired of that do you?" Chakotay asked, managing to shove the door open just enough for Vash to wedge her way in.

"No," she answered with a smile. She shined her wrist light around the smaller chamber and quickly found the throne from the mural. Placed on the throne was an ornate pillow and nestled snugly in the center lay the ring. "Now, that's curious."

"Not exactly what I expected," Chakotay agreed as he helped her back out of the small opening.

Vash brushed some dust off of her khaki work shirt. "We need to get this door all the way open and some better lighting. Speaking of which, where is Dan with the extra lights?"

"Right here," Dan Guillermo, one of the archaeologists working with Vash, came in carrying several lights. While setting up the lights, he good-naturedly badgered his colleague, "It took a few extra minutes to transport them down. There's a bit of a hubbub upstairs; it seems your sugar daddy wants to come down for a look-see."

Kennely shook his head, "I really want to be a fly on the wall when you slip up and he overhears you call him that."

"I'll just tell him she said it first," Guillermo gestured toward Vash.

"It does sound like something I'd say as well as being a fairly accurate description," Vash admitted flippantly. She was not sure what amused her more, Karita's expression of horrified shock or the thought of Jean-Luc's possible reactions. "I should probably go to the beam-down site and meet him. Dan, help Chakotay and see if you two strapping boys can get that door out of the way."

Dan joined Chakotay at the end of the stone door and commented, "anyone else notice how she always manages to get out of the heavy lifting?"

"That's because I'm the brains of the operation, not the brawn," Vash retorted gleefully. She patted her security officer on the shoulder,"Come along, Kennely."

Kennely followed Vash out of the building. Passing by some equipment, she paused checking her reflection in the high-gloss surface. She ran her fingers through her hair, pursed her lips a couple of times before undoing the first three button on her work shirt. She had a t-shirt under the work shirt, however the actions still gave the already beautiful woman an even more alluring appearance. Watching her primp, he couldn't help kidding her, "mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the most seductive of them all?"

Turning to her security guard, Vash raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Kennely, what an outrageous remark. I'm impressed. So what's going on with you and Karita?"

"Nothing, despite my best attempts," he sighed as they continued walking toward the beam-down point.

"It's not you, it's the uniform; try taking it off, " she suggested.

"Excuse me?" his step faltered slightly.

She smothered a chuckle. "All I meant was try stopping by the lab off-duty, in civvies. You do own other clothes, right?"

"Yes, ma'am," he nodded. They reached the beam-down coordinates just as Captain Picard and Commander Lar finished materializing.

Captain Picard turned to his security chief, "Commander, this is hardly necessary."

"It is, however, technically a regulation, sir," Lar replied. "Besides, since taking the position as security chief I miss the opportunities that I had as Vash's security guard to explore these ancient sites."

"I'm flattered, Geoffrey." Gracing both men with her most charming smile, Vash motioned with a finger for them to follow her. "Come along, boys, I'll give you the fifty cent tour. Chakotay and I have determined that the language we're dealing with is a derivative of a rare dialect of Tibboh. We may be dealing with a lost colony of Morannon."

"Although it's known that 150,000 years ago the Morannon civilization was highly advanced, this would be the first hard piece of evidence that, like the Iconian's before them, they actually colonized planets outside of their own solar system," Picard remarked struck by the possible significance of the find while following his wife toward the closest building.

Sharing a pleased glance with her husband, Vash praised him with a wink. "Very good, mon capitaine. You may move to the front of the class."

"If the Morannon civilization was technologically advanced, why does everything here seem to indicate a pre-industrial, feudal society?" Kennely asked looking at the walled city which provided a backdrop for the current excavation site.

"There could be any number of explanations for that, Lieutenant. It might be due to losing contact with the parent civilization or maybe by choice, a group of people who turned their backs on the technology," Vash explained.

"Like the Bringloidi," Lar offered, referring to a group of colonists of Irish decent from Earth who had rejected advanced technology in favor of a more agrarian society.

"Precisely, Geoff," Vash commended her former security officer. Turning to Jean-Luc, she added, "I may lure these two boys into the science departments yet."

"As long as you don't try to lose them, I'm a happy man," Picard retorted, alluding to her former predilection toward evading her assigned security detail. He gestured to the building they had just reached. "So, what've you got?"

She placed her hands on her hips and regarded the building. "I'm not entirely certain. This particular building has many of the aspects of an ornate sepulcher site except at this point I can find no evidence of an actual burial; no remains, no sarcophagus, nothing."

Blood rushed through Picard watching Vash shift effortlessly from coquettish to archaeologist, her brilliant mind mulling over the available evidence in an attempt to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. Shaking himself, he suggested, "let's have a look."

Inside the building, the immense stone door had been slid aside to reveal the throne inside a small chamber. While Professor Guillermo and Commander Chakotay worked on the mural covering the stone door, Vash's young assistant Karita was scanning the throne and ring with her tricorder. Noticing the Captain behind him studying the mural, Chakotay explained, "It tells of a young queen seduced by a ring of power which overwhelmed her, changing her into an evil sorceress . . ."

Smiling, Picard couldn't help but quote from a boyhood favorite, "Nine for Mortal men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne in the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie. One ring to rule them all."

"Rings of Power are common in many mythologies. On Earth, Nordic mythology is loaded with them, such as Odin's Draupnir, which dripped eight gold, rings every nine days. Tolkien didn't just pull it out of his ass," Vash quipped, taking a closer look at the text. "I think siren would be a more accurate translation. "

"Agreed," Chakotay nodded, making the notation on the PADD he was holding.

"The text continues, saying that the powerful siren queen's evil reign over the city lasted many years until her defeat when she was interred within for all eternity. The only problem with this text is that there is no evidence of anybody's interment in this chamber." Vash attention was grabbed by the sound of a tricorder hitting the ground. She turned to see Karita looking at the ring with an odd look on her face. "Karita?"

"Do you hear that, Professor?" Karita asked, her eyes never leaving the simple gold ring.

"Hear what?" Vash asked.

"It's so beautiful . . . I've never heard anything so beautiful," Karita murmured entranced. She began to move closer to the ring.

"Miss Leigh--"

"Karita, No!"

Vash and Picard shouted simultaneously, both of them realizing what the young woman was about to do. Unfortunately, they were too late. Karita had picked up the ring and slipped it on her finger. The young woman turned, startled at the fierceness with which her name was yelled only to be engulfed in a dramatic burst of flames.

"Get back, Dan," Kennely shouted to Guillermo while pulling Mrs. Picard back behind his own body. He was aware of Chakotay and Lar taking a similar protective stance in front of the captain. The fireball vanished as quickly as it had appeared leaving Karita standing before them in the guise of the ancient Siren Queen and just as breathtakingly beautiful as he had imagined. "Karita?"

"That was the name of my splendid new vessel," with an almost feral purr, she combed her fingers through the long curly tresses now freed from her ponytail. She slid her hands down the sides of the gleaming black gown clinging to the feminine curves of her body, paying no heed to the fact that Lar, Kennely and Chakotay had now drawn their phasers.

'Splendid new vessel; that can only be bad,' Vash thought to herself. She stepped to the side while staying behind Kennely's free arm, which had instinctively come out to keep her behind him. "Who are you and where is Karita?"

"I am the exalted goddess Queen Namuras, ruler of all there is," the voice rang with haughty arrogance. "The insipid waif who once occupied my vessel is of no consequence."

"Queen Namuras, I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard," he moved forward, wanting to draw this unknown entity's attention away from Vash. "We would like to speak to Karita."

"My magnificent realm has fallen into such decay," she complained bitterly, ignoring Picard's request.

"Those seven signs of aging can happen to a place after a hundred thousand years," Vash replied. She noticed Kennely's glare when he pulled her back behind him and muttered to herself, "more or less."

Seeing that his wife's security guard had her well in hand, Picard once again tried to redirect the entity's attention to him. "Namuras, I want to speak to Karita."

"I command here, Captain," Namuras declared raising her hand with the ring. Howling gale force winds ripped through the building. When the winds died down, the site looked as if it had been built yesterday. "Now that I have restored my realm to its proper glory, you will all bow to me as your Queen."

"Oh my," Vash gasped realizing that Kennely was standing in front of her without his weapon and in nothing but his underwear and boots. With a quick glance she ascertained that Jean-Luc, Chakotay and Geoff Lar were in the same predicament.

Namuras's gaze fell on Kennely and she raised her hand, her finger trailing through the air in his direction, "You will enjoy serving your goddess."

Kennely involuntarily sucked in his breath at the sensation of a feminine fingertip trailing down his bare chest and abdomen. He took a step back, bumping into Vash who was still behind him.

"Were you able to feel that?" Vash asked her security guard in a quiet whisper. He nodded.

"It's been far too long." In another burst of flames, Namuras/Karita disappeared.

Quickly determining that the rest of the away team was unharmed, Picard turned to his security chief, "assessment, Commander?"

"I could detect Miss Leigh's personality but just barely. It was being pushed aside as a more dominant personality took over," Lar reported.

"So Karita is still there," Vash noted with relief making her way over to re-examine the door with the mural of Namuras on her throne looking for any clues to what might have just happened. She ran a finger over a specific section of the ancient text and cursed, "dammit! How the hell did I miss this!"

"What is it?" Picard was instantly next to her.

"The text doesn't say the young Queen was 'changed' by the ring of power. It says she was 'transformed' by the ring of power," she explained, mentally kicking herself.

Hearing the self-reproach in her voice, Picard laid his hand gently on her shoulder, "What happened to Karita wasn't your fault. You and I both know there are some things about interstellar exploration that just have to be learned the hard way. We'll get her back."

Before Vash could respond there was a chirp from her shirt pocket. She pulled her comlink from her pocket and handed it to Jean-Luc. "I'm guessing that this is for you."

Taking the comlink, the captain opened the channel, "Picard here."

"Captain?" Riker's confusion could be heard even through the heavy static interfering with the transmission.

"Not what you were expecting to hear, Number One?"

"I just wasn't expecting to hear your voice saying it, sir," the first officer responded. "A few moments ago we lost the signal from yours, Chakotay's, Lar's and Kennely's commbadges. At the same time ship's sensors detected a shield that encompasses the entire ancient city including your current location. It's interfering with transport locks and communications. Mr. Data managed to penetrate the shield with a tightly-focused signal. I was attempting to contact Professor Picard to determine her team's situation."

While Jean-Luc filled Will in on recent events, Vash reviewed the readings from Dan's tricorder. She gestured for her husband to hand her back the communicator. "Data, I'm having Dr. Guillermo send you his tricorder readings of what transpired. I need you to do a search on noncorporeal, energy-based lifeforms--emphasis on, but not limited to, sentient lifeforms."

Data voice crackled with the static, "Professor, a thorough search will take some time. There are numerous known races fitting the parameters such as the Koinonians, Medusans, Organians, Thasians, as well as the individual lifeforms known as the Beta Renner cloud, the Dikironium cloud creature, Gorgan of Triacus, Nagilum, Redjac . . ."

Vash interrupted the list, "yes, Data, I'm aware it's quite an extensive search, which is why I'm asking you to do it. Once we catch up to Karita, we're going to need a way to separate that thing from her without injuring her."

"Understood," Data answered.

"He left out my wife's lecherous candle-dwelling ghost," Chakotay noted with his barely-showing dimples betraying his amusement.

"I cut him off before he got to that one," Vash retorted handing the comlink back to Jean-Luc.

"Number One, please scan for Miss Leigh's current position." Picard ordered.

"Hold on, sir," Riker replied. His voice came back on a moment later. "Captain, Geordi thinks he can recalibrate the sensors to accommodate the interference from the shield, but this is going to take a few minutes. I'll let you know as soon as we have something."

Picard nodded. "Number One, did anything out of the ordinary happen up there when you lost our communicator signals?"

"Unusual, sir?"

So just those on the surface lost their clothes, Picard thought. "Never mind, Will."

"Aye, sir." After a muffled conversation in the background, Riker continued, "sensors have located a single human female in the structure in the very center of the city."

"That's our girl possibly relaxing at her palace." A sudden realization hit Vash causing her to take a deep breath, "Jean-Luc, I have no idea what the scope of the power that this entity could wield. It might be limited to the city or it could be as infinite as Q's. I strongly recommend the Enterprise break orbit and retreat to maximum communications range until we can ascertain more about what or who we are dealing with ."

"I concur with the Professor's recommendation. They can't help us at the moment anyway," Chakotay added.

"Agreed," Picard nodded before speaking into the comlink, "Commander, take the Enterprise out of orbit and pull back to just within maximum communications range. Monitor the situation as best you can, but keep your distance for the time being."

"Yes, sir. Riker out."

Picard handed the comlink back to his wife with a weary sigh. "There is an obvious five hundred pound gorilla in the room. Would anyone like to speculate on a reason for this?"

"Sir, are you referring to our lack of uniforms?" Lar inquired.

"Yes, Commander; that is the gorilla that I'm referring to," he answered.

"I might not have Counselor Troi's background in psychology, but I know Karita has always been somewhat intimidated by the senior staff and you in particular, Captain. This Namuras might have picked up on that and saw the uniforms as a competing source of power and done away with them," the security chief hypothesized.

"Makes sense." Vash tucked the comlink away in her shirt pocket.

Picard turned to his wife with a simple one word command, "phaser."

"Phaser! She has a phaser?" Kennely watched Vash walk over to her backpack to pull out a Type One phaser. After the events of the past few moments, finding out that his charge was carrying a concealed weapon and probably had been since the beginning, he forgot about the presence of superior officers. He almost shouted, "You have a phaser?"

"Of course," Vash sounded nonplussed.

"You're an archaeologist. What kind of archaeologist carries a sidearm?" Kennely demanded.

"Uh, I do." Dan Guillermo sheepishly pulled out his own phaser from his backpack.

"I never mentioned it to Geoffrey either . . ." Vash began.

Kennely stood just in front of Vash staring down at her, his voice carried a firm, commanding tone. "The commander is a telepath, I'm not. Professor, you must actually tell me these things so I can properly protect you and your staff. And while we're on the subject, when I put you behind me, that's where I expect you to stay without needing a leash. Capisce?"

"Capisce," Vash answered not bothering to even look for help. She knew Kennely's little outburst would more than likely earn him an 'atta boy' from both Jean-Luc and Geoff when all this was over.

Seeing that his wife and her security guard had come to an understanding, Picard walked over. "Mr. Kennely, please procure the phaser that I have no doubt Professor Picard issued Miss Leigh from her bag."

"Aye, sir." Kennely moved off toward Karita's backpack.

Picard held out his hand. "Vash, the phaser?"

"Just where are you planning to holster it, flyboy," Vash teased, her eyes resting on the firm planes of her husband's bare torso while holstering the weapon on her own belt. She took a moment to enjoy the sight of a nearly naked Jean-Luc, Chakotay, Geoff Lar and Sean Kennely. She turned her attention to Chakotay, appreciatively eyeing his nicely-showcased but barely-covered attributes and pointed out with a chuckle, "correct me if I'm wrong but those aren't exactly standard issue . . ."

Chakotay groaned, "the one time I wear these to placate my wife."

"I'll have to ask the good doctor where one might acquire those," Vash bantered turning to look at her own husband.

Stepping in to rescue his captain, Lar retorted, "A man could hurt himself with a pair of those if he wasn't careful, professor. And you're enjoying this a little too much."

"Agreed," Picard replied as he cast a meaningful glance at his wife. "And we have more pressing issues."

"All right, work now; ogle delectable, mostly-naked men later," Vash chuckled. Glancing over at Kennely rummaging through Karita's backpack, she spoke quietly to her husband, "Jean-Luc, you did notice this Namuras reaching out toward Sean and his reaction."

"Yes, I noticed; don't tell me we have a budding romance in addition to the goddess factor." He reached up to rub the bridge of his nose.

"Okay, I won't tell you," she chirped flippantly.

Picard gave a sigh of gentle exasperation, "I guess this could have been worse; you could have picked up the ring."

"I don't think that was ever a possibility, Captain," Guillermo piped up before Vash could reply.

"You have a theory, Doctor?" the captain asked.

"More like a wild speculation based on the evidence that this entity is sentient. Karita said she heard something very beautiful, something no one else heard. What if the entity chose her?" Guillermo proposed.

"Even if we assume this Namuras wanted a female body, why Karita and not Professor Picard?" Lar questioned.

"Karita is young . . ." Amused at the look the statement engendered from Vash, Guillermo added, "--ger. She's younger than Vash, unsure of her abilities and easily repressed; whereas Vash is self-assured and not easily intimidated. The transformation took place when Karita put on the ring. I'm guessing that removing the ring would reverse the process."

Starting to see where Guillermo was going with the train of thought, Lar reasoned, "then the entity would look for a personality quickly and easily dominated to prevent the ring from being removed before the transformation was complete. Professor Picard is a force to be reckoned with, able to hold her own against a member of the Q continuum."

"Is that polite Starfleetese for the captain's wife is a pushy broad and it just happened to save her ass this time?" Vash inquired in an overly-sweet, dulcet tone.

"Yes, ma'am," Lar smiled.

The communicator in Vash's pocket chirped. Taking it out, she answered, "Picard here."

Data's voice sounded through the static. "Professor, I may have found something of interest. The low level energy readings detected from the ring are an exact match for unusual synaptic activity that began superimposing itself over Miss Leigh's normal neural patterns when she put on the ring."

"Well, Dan, your wild speculation may have just gotten its first tangible piece of supportive evidence," Vash remarked. "Anything else, Data?"

"It is an anionic energy similar to the type of energy detected in the noncorporeal, sentient lifeforms from Ux-Mal found by the Enterprise D on Mab-Bu VI," the android continued.

"Mr. Data, the lifeforms from Ux-Mal did not display the abilities we've seen this lifeform display," Picard observed.

"The anionic energy is comparable to-- but not a match for-- the type of energy detected in the Ux-Mal lifeforms, suggesting that we might be dealing with a similar type of lifeform," Data clarified.

"Data, would removing the ring remove the entity from Miss Leigh?" Vash inquired.

"Unknown. The lifeforms from Ux-Mal were unable to inhabit corporeal lifeforms whose pain receptors were firing. If we are dealing with a similar lifeform, then causing Miss Leigh's pain receptors to fire may cause the entity to flee her body back into the ring. Removing the ring after that may very well trap the entity," Data theorized.

"We're going to have to hurt her?" Vash's shocked voice was filled with concern for her young assistant.

"Not actually injure her, Vash," Dr Crusher's calm reassurance came over the commlink. "A plasma charge should cause enough pain receptors to fire while not doing any physical damage."

Dan Guillermo offered, "I can easily rig one of the plasma chisels to emit plasma charge. Hell, the difficult thing most of the time is to keep it from happening."

"Do it," Vash ordered. Noticing her husband's expression at having his 'make it so' comment inadvertently cut off, she couldn't help but bait him, "he works for me."

"Indeed," the captain replied dryly.

Vash looked over at Chakotay and then back at her husband. Her tone became impish, "Oh, Doctor, remind me I have a question I want to ask you later."

Crusher's voice took on a curious note. "Of course. Enterprise out."

"I'll just offer my apology now," Chakotay muttered to his CO.

"Sir, I have found Miss Leigh's phaser as well as her commlink." Kennely reported rejoining them.

"She probably took the commlink out of her pocket and stuck it in her bag when she was running the thermoluminescence scan earlier. Certain frequencies used by the commlink can adversely effect the results of the scan," Vash surmised.

Picard started to straighten his uniform top only to recall that he wasn't wearing his uniform. "We need to get to Miss Leigh and separate her from her guest."

Vash took out her tricorder. "We know Karita is in the palace at the center of the city. Luckily, Karita herself had finished the first scans of the city before we left the Enterprise. The city is laid out in a perfect circle with a circumference of 25 kilometers." She handed the tricorder to her husband, pointing to the display as she talked, "Here, here, and here are the three gates in the wall surrounding the city. As you can see the gates open to three main roads, each of which is about a four kilometer straight shot leading to the palace in the center of the city."

"We have three Type One phasers, three commlinks, and three tricorders," Lar itemized their priority pieces of equipment. He turned to his captain. "I wouldn't mind having a few more weapons."

"Maybe we do," Vash offered as she glanced at the other stone door, the one with the mural of Namuras's warriors on it. She exchanged a conspiratorial glance with Guillermo. "Dan, what you think?"

"It's possible. We won't know until we open it," he shrugged.

"Let's do it," Vash began to head over to the other stone door only to be stopped by Jean-Luc.

"Do what, exactly?" the captain inquired suspiciously.

"Find out what's behind door number two," Vash chirped "If we're lucky maybe there will be some weapons."

Picard continued to hold her arm. "And if we're not lucky?"

"Look at it this way, you boys don't have much more to lose at this point." Vash gently pulled her arm out of his grasp. She paused a moment looking at the door then turned to Guillermo. "Dan, scan behind the door for any energy signatures."

Guillermo quickly calibrated his tricorder and made the sweep. "The tricorder is detecting no energy signatures. Oh, and I'm picking up breathable air with no biotoxins."

"Good." Vash moved to stand in front of the door lightly running her hand over the raised alien icons while scrutinizing the ancient text.

"By your left hand," Guillermo directed as he spotted the symbols that she needed. Leaning in over her shoulder, he teased, "you know, the hand that usually has the big honking wedding ring on it."

"You mean this hand," Vash raised the hand in question to lightly bop Guillermo on the nose.

"That would be the one," Guillermo chuckled pulling back rubbing his nose.

Vash pressed down firmly on the two icons and heard the mechanical clank and the hissing of air as the seal was broken. She took a step back and gestured toward the door. "Have at it, boys."

"I take it that is your way of suggesting we males shove that heavy stone door aside?" Picard asked, handing Vash her tricorder back while stepping past her toward the door.

"Now Jean-Luc, you wouldn't want me to stand in the way of anyone's gallant act of chivalry," Vash retorted, eyeing the way a nearly naked Jean-Luc and Chakotay's muscles rippled and bunched while they worked with Guillermo to push the massive door aside.

"Did someone ask for more weapons?" Guillermo inquired wryly as light spilled into the room to reveal what appeared to be a small arsenal. Piles containing the shields, short swords, and skirts of tasses like those depicted in the murals filled the room to capacity.

Kneeling down in front of the nearest pile, Vash ran her tricorder over the swords, shields and tasses. "These are made of a metal alloy containing two of the planet's naturally occurring ores."

"The local version of bronze," Chakotay hypothesized.

Vash nodded. "That would be my guess." Satisfied there were no energy signatures coming from the items and that the weapons were not going to start singing to anyone, she picked up one of the swords turning it over in her hands looking at it appreciatively, "exquisite craftsmanship."

"Indeed it is," Picard had to agree.

"The slats on these all have an etchings on them, probably a unit designation of some sort. The belting looks to be made from some sort of tanned animal hide." Chakotay put on a skirt of tasses and sheathed a sword at his side. It wasn't a Starfleet uniform but it did offer more coverage than he had been left with. At his captain's look, he offered, "when in Rome, Captain."

"Excellent idea, Commander," Picard commended as he donned one as well.

Vash stood and handed Jean-Luc the sword she had been studying. Watching him sheath it at his side, she noted, "as I've observed before, you make a damn fine-looking Roman Legionnaire."

While the captain and his officers began choosing their arms, Vash wandered past Guillermo to scan the walls of the newly opened room. Unable to help himself, he pondered mischievously under his breath to her, "which begs the question of when exactly would you have had the opportunity to observe that about our good captain?"

Without missing a beat, Vash quietly shot back, "Dan, kiss my asp. Besides don't you have a plasma chisel to jury-rig."

"I'm going." Guillermo stopped when she placed a hand on his arm and tilted her head toward the captain and Commander Lar scrutinizing the readout on Karita's tricorder. "I assume I should save myself some time and just go ahead and rig three plasma chisels since there are three main roads leading directly to the palace."

"That would be a safe assumption." Vash resumed her study of the newly opened chamber. A short time later her attention was again drawn away from her work by her husband's firm command voice.

"We'll divide up into three teams, each team will take a phaser, a communicator, a tricorder and whatever other weapons they can carry. Professor Guillermo, you will go with Commander Lar; Commander Chakotay with Lieutenant Kennely. Vash, you're with me."

Hearing the different uttered 'aye, sir's, Vash impishly sang, "yes, dear."

Ignoring the wifely case of insubordination, the captain continued, "Commander Chakotay, considering that your team is the only one consisting of two trained Starfleet officers, I think it would be wise to have the two of you take the road that leads to the front entrance of the palace."

"Agreed, Captain," Chakotay acknowledged.

"Professor Guillermo, have you managed to rig one of the plasma chisels to emit the necessary plasma charge?" Picard inquired.

"Actually Captain, Professor Picard and I thought it would be beneficial to have three plasma chisels rigged so that each team would have one." Guillermo presented the captain with the three chisels in question.

"Well done." Picard gave both Vash and Guillermo an approving nod. "Let's arm ourselves and get moving."

XXXXXX

Nearing one of the three large gates surrounding the city, Vash immediately headed for a stone sentinel, a statue that seemed to be standing guard at the gate. She began circling the life-size warrior statue, noting its similarity to the ones depicted on the murals back at the sepulcher site. Without taking her eyes from the artifact she reached out with one hand, her fingers impatiently wiggling.

"Tricorder, please." Vash took the proffered tricorder and began scanning the magnificent relic. "This is very reminiscent of the terra cotta warriors that were discovered in the late twentieth century near Xain guarding the tomb of the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang Di. Of course, at the Xain site there were over 3000 warriors all done with this same meticulous detail differentiating facial features and rank insignia. If you've never seen it, the next time we're back on Earth I'll talk to the curator in charge of the site and arrange a tour. "

Picard had to smile at Vash caught somewhere between lecturing and babbling in her excitement. Suddenly, he heard her shout out.

"Jean-Luc!" Vash cried out, narrowly avoiding the grasp of the artifact she was studying when it unexpectedly came to life.

"Rivals to the great goddess Namuras may not pass," the statue intoned. He turned to face Picard. "Do you pledge yourself body and soul to the service of the goddess?"

Picard moved up beside Vash and quietly muttered to her. "Am I right in thinking this is a trick question?"

"Probably," she replied. Speaking to the statue, she asked. "What offering of proof does the goddess demand?"

"Only those who give of themselves may pass to serve the goddess."

Vash heaved a frustrated sigh. "Give what, his shirt?"

"His manhood."

Picard subconsciously covered himself with his hands. "I beg your pardon."

The statue raised his sword. "Only those willing to sacrifice their manhood to the goddess may pass."

"Then none shall pass," Vash muttered under her breath. Unfortunately she'd shoved the phaser into her backpack, out of easy reach. "Stall," she urged Jean-Luc as she stepped back to un-shoulder the pack to get to the weapon.

The statue took a step toward Picard. "Sacrifice your manhood or your life," he demanded.

Picard had his sword was out if its sheath in a heartbeat and he moved to put himself between the stone warrior and Vash. His sword clanged loudly and reverberated painfully when it struck the stone. The warrior drew his own sword and bore down on Picard who feinted and desperately searched for a weakness to exploit. He kept moving, dodging the warrior's onslaught and thrusting with his own sword, which just deflected off the stone with a few sparks to show for his efforts. It took both hands to block a massive strike from the warrior but at least his sword didn't shatter under the force of the blow. He shook off his momentary appreciation of the craftsmanship of the sword to drive the hilt of his weapon into the statue's face. Shoving hard, he tried to push the statue off-balance only to go sprawling to the ground when the statue brushed him aside as if he were a fly. He scrambled to his feet and rushed at the statue, intending to tackle it to the ground. Just as he launched himself, the warrior suddenly exploded into a thousand pieces. He hit the ground hard with rocks showering down around him.

"Never bring a knife to a gun fight," Vash observed, unable to stop herself from blowing across the end of the phaser like a character from the wild west.

Picard took a moment to catch his breath before rolling over to look up at his wife. "I hope you didn't have to hurry to get the phaser out or anything. Heavens forefend you break a nail while I'm doing battle."

Reaching out her hand to help him to his feet, she gave him a sardonic smirk. "My nails were fine, I was more worried about accidentally hitting you. I'd never let anything happen to my favorite part of your anatomy."

"How comforting," he murmured as he got to his feet. Holding out his hand for the communicator, he activated it as soon as she placed it in his palm. "Picard to all teams, beware any statues that seem to be standing guard, you do not want to pledge yourselves to the service of the goddess."

"Just discovered and dealt with that, sir." Lar's voice sounded as winded as Picard's.

"Here too," Kennely replied. "I thought Professor Picard said there was no evidence of booby traps."

Vash took the communicator from Jean-Luc. "I said there was no evidence of booby traps at the sepulcher site; I have no idea about here in the city. That said, your girlfriend seems to have a strange notion of service."

"She's not my girlfriend," Kennely retorted. "She's just the nice girl who ripped my clothes off."

Knowing full well his wife would not be able to resist that kind of an opportunity, Picard placed a silencing finger against Vash's lips and took back the communicator. "Be careful, there may be more surprises ahead; Picard out."

Vash kissed his finger before evading it. She reached out to run a fingertip down the sweat- dampened, muscular wall of his chest and cooed, "More opportunities to see you get all hot and bothered; a girl can only hope."

"Did you learn anything from the events of last night?" Picard inquired with gentle exasperation.

She brazenly met his gaze and challenged lasciviously, "did you learn anything last night?"

He just sighed and turned his attention to the gate, looking for a way to open it. He started to ask Vash how she was faring when he saw her adjusting controls on the side of a long tube with a large multi-pronged hook on the end. "What the devil is that?"

"Grapple," Vash said succinctly. Satisfied that the pressure in the canister was correct, she took careful aim and fired toward the top of the wall. The grappling hook was propelled in a large graceful arc to the top of the wall trailing a repelling line behind it. Once the hook hit with a gratifying clank, she tugged on the line with all of her weight. "Gates don't work well for keeping your enemies out if the opening mechanism is on the outside. So, I'm going to scale up this side of the wall propel down the inside of the wall and open the gate from the inside. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Picard checked and rechecked Vash's safety harness several times, but still it was nerve-racking to watch her climb up the wall. His relief when she reached the top was short-lived as she gave him a little wave before disappearing over the other side. The minutes seemed to tick by with agonizing slowness before he heard the mechanical grinding sound of a massive winch turning. The enormous gate slowly began to rise.

Vash gestured for Jean-Luc to come through the gate. "I wouldn't linger too long under this thing. I have no accurate way to determine just how thorough this Namuras 's impromptu restoration project was or just how badly she wants your manhood."

"You said I didn't have much more to lose at this point," he pointed out, jogging under the gate.

"I take it back," she replied allowing her eyes to sweep over him appreciatively. "As it stands, you have quite an impressive amount to lose."

Picard found Vash's safety harness, grappling hook and repelling line already expertly wrapped for placement in the backpack. He packed the equipment back up and then followed her down the road toward the city. They walked together quietly with Vash adding notations to the detailed scans she was making of their surroundings. He was slightly relieved to note that the earlier incident with the statue seemed to have curbed her impulse to venture off the road for a closer look at any object that piqued her interest. Picard finally broke the silence. "Once we've seen to Miss Leigh's recovery, you and your team will be able to thoroughly excavate this site."

"Are you sure that's going to be possible?" she asked looking up from the tricorder.

"I see no reason why the work on the site . . ."

"No," she cut him off, apprehension replacing her usual bravado. "Karita, do you really believe we'll be able to save her? I mean possession, for lack of a better term, by a noncorporeal lifeform can't exactly be commonplace."

"Although it is hardly an everyday occurrence onboard the Enterprise, it is not as uncommon as one would think. I haven't exactly kept a scorecard but Data and Deanna seem to have a particular proclivity toward it. And according to Will's log, while under the influence of the Beta Renner cloud I beamed myself out into space." Picard laid a reassuring hand on his wife's shoulder. "Trust me, we'll get Miss Leigh back."

"Beamed yourself out into space . . . shouldn't you be dead?" Vash eyes were wide with shock.

"Many times over, chere," he chuckled gently stroking the smooth skin of her cheek with the back of his fingers. "Many times over."

Vash's eyes fluttered shut when Jean-Luc lowered his face to claim her mouth in a tender kiss, his lips caressing hers ever-so-softly. The kiss deepened, his tongue slipping past her parted lips to gently stroke the warm, moist cavern of her mouth. When the ground began to roll under her feet, she broke the kiss. "Uh-oh."

The rolling quickly evolved into violent quaking, which brought a shower of debris raining down on them as weaker parts of the surrounding buildings crumbled. Picard grabbed Vash's hand and shouted over the rising noise, "the crossroads."

Vash knew exactly what he had in mind. Inside the city there was no way to get out from beneath the buildings to avoid the falling debris, but the middle of a crossroads was as open a space as they could hope for. She was just barely able to keep pace with Jean-Luc as he pulled her along racing them toward the next intersection of streets. The man was fast. Leave it to her to marry a former track star. Successfully dodging some rather large pieces of falling debris, they made it to the relative safety of the crossroads. He pulled her into a protective embrace using his body to shield hers and they stood that way for several long minutes until the quaking slowly subsided. With her body snug against the solid anchor of his masculine form, she nuzzled the curve of his neck and cooed, "you still make the earth move beneath me."

"Dammit, Vash! I warned you about the dangers of another quake," his voice was tight with consternation as memories of Yadalla Prime flashed through his mind.

"Yes, you did and right in front of Karita," she reminded him. "I'm guessing she's our newest Earth goddess."

"Earth goddess?" he asked.

"Gale force winds, earthquakes." She entangled her fingers in the coarse hair on the muscular wall of his chest and teased, "besides, you of all people should know a goddess of love or fertility would not demand an offering of your manhood . . . at least that's not how I wanted it. She's obviously an entire pantheon all rolled into one."

"You are out of your mind," he grumbled, refusing to be distracted by a pleasant reminiscence or the feeling of her feminine fingers toying with his chest hair.

"I'm out of my mind? You're the one using your bare back to protect my fully clothed body," she pointed out.

"I was just . . ." he began.

"You were just being gallantly heroic and protective; and damn, you're sexy when you do that." She took his face in her hands and gave him a quick kiss. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I'm all right," he answered even as she began to check for herself.

"Like hell you are. You have several gashes on your back that are bleeding," Vash corrected inspecting the lacerations more closely. Hearing the communicator chip, she handed it to him before taking the backpack off her own shoulder. "You answer that while I fish out my first aid kit and patch you up."

He activated the communicator. "Picard here."

"Captain, are you and Mrs. Picard all right?" Lar's voice sounded over the communicator.

"We're fine, Commander. What about Commander Chakotay's team? Ouch," Picard finished with a wince.

"Fine here. Is something wrong, Captain?" Chakotay joined the conversation.

"No major injuries. However, your wife will never have to worry about my wife replacing her in sickbay," the captain answered with a grimace.

"Sorry, Jean-Luc, but these wounds needed to be cleaned and disinfected before I use the dermal regenerator. I'm a doctor of archaeology not a medical doctor." Vash continued to tend to Jean-Luc's back. "Speaking of which, ever notice how often I go from being Professor Picard to Mrs. Picard when you boys get worried. There, that should do it until Beverly can get her hands on you."

"Everyone stay alert, Picard out," he closed the channel. He handed the communicator back to Vash. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she replaced the communicator back into her pocket. "On the upside, we're more than halfway to the palace now; we covered quite a bit of ground in that quake."

Picard looked around to make sure the last of the tremors had subsided and the debris was no longer falling into the street. "Looks like it's safe to get going. Stay close, but stay behind me. I can't even guess what Miss Leigh has in store for us next."

"Namuras," Vash snapped and then immediately "I'm sorry, Jean-Luc. It's not Karita's fault; of course, on the bright side she's not afraid of you anymore."

Picard arched an eyebrow as he glanced over his shoulder to retort. "Will got to kiss her to get her over a case of nerves, why do I have to survive castration and catastrophe?"

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I'll protect you," she assured him.

They walked along in silence for several more minutes, both of them so intent on scanning every dark doorway and alley for potential threats, that neither of them noticed the dark clouds converging over the city. Vash slowed her pace a little when the hair on the back of her neck began tingling, sure that there was a trap about to spring. "Jean-Luc," she began.

Pausing, he turned to ask what she wanted when a loud explosion sounded nearby. Picard whirled around just in time to see a lightening bolt streak through the sky to slam into the ground barely three meters away. He instinctively reached for Vash to pull her toward the safety of the nearest building as more lightening bolts slammed into the city all around. The narrow street lined with buildings left them with very little shelter from the lightning strikes and the closest doorway was several meters away. He pushed her toward it but was frustrated when she stopped to pull at him. A lightening bolt exploded the wall right beside them, the shock wave and debris sending them flying into the wall on the opposite side of the street. He tried to regain his balance only to have Vash tackle him to the ground with surprising strength. She grabbed at his waistband with such ferocity that for an instant he was concerned that Namuras had somehow infected her. He felt her rip off the skirt of tasses and saw her heave it into the street at the exact instant that a lightening bolt struck it.

"Lightening rod," Vash panted as she sat up on top of him. "I suddenly realized that I had no idea of the extent of the electrical conductivity of the metal plates in the skirt of tasses or the sword."

"Thank you." He looked up at her perched on top of him with her hands lightly resting on his chest. When she made no move to get up he prompted, "Vash?"

"Just enjoying this delightful bit of role reversal. It's not very often that I'm the one fully dressed pinning your nearly naked body to the ground," she teased.

Spanning Vash's waist with his hands, Picard easily lifted her, "Up you go."

"Party pooper," she grumbled as he gently moved her over next to him before standing up himself. She took the hand he offered to help her up and continued,"we both know if it was my nearly naked body pinned to the ground beneath you in uniform we'd be there for awhile with you claiming some sort of captain's prerogative."

"We've already established it's good to be the king; but right now I need the communicator, please."

"Yes, dear," she handed it to him.

"Teams, report in; I want a head count," Picard realized his poor choice of words the instant his wife burst out laughing uproariously.

Dan Guillermo voice sounded over the link. His comment made it clear he heard the same innuendo in the captain's poor word choice as Vash did. "Lar and I are fine. You know, this was all fun and games when Karita was just after the uniforms but I'm attached to my bits in more ways than one."

"Dan, you weren't wearing tasses," Vash replied. She was just catching her breath with only an occasional chuckle.

"No, but I'd put a sword in my belt and one of those last bolts came a little too close for my comfort," the other archaeologist answered.

"Oh," Vash fought down another laugh.

"Kennely and I are okay," Chakotay reported in.

"Picard out." The captain closed the channel once he was assured that everyone was accounted for. He handed the communicator back to Vash.

Vash placed to communicator back into her pocket. Gesturing to the street, she remarked, "leave the skirt . . . take the sword."

They reached the palace walls with no further catastrophes and crouched down behind a hedge that bordered the wall. Vash quickly ran several scans of the interior of the structure. "I'm reading one lifeform, human, in the large center chamber," she whispered. Her report was interrupted by the chirp of the communicator and she answered it in a hushed voice, "Picard here, go ahead."

"I'm seeing a large, arched doorway with three oblong window-like openings on each side." Dan's observation came over the communicator.

"Same here," Vash answered.

"Here too," Chakotay said.

"To avoid anymore unpleasant surprises, I vote we use the Robin Hood maneuver and go in through a window," Dan suggested.

Before Vash could reply, Picard took the communicator. "I would like to remind you Professor, this is not a democracy; however, I concur. Go in through the windows and hold until all teams are in place."

While replacing the communicator back in her pocket, Vash noticed her husband's look, "what?"

"The Robin Hood maneuver?" Picard sighed with exasperation at what was obviously a reference to his wife's favorite anecdote. "And you women have the nerve to wonder why chivalry is a dying art."

Vash met his 'plasma-leak' sigh with her sweetest smile. There was a naughty part of her that lived to make him utter that sound. "You stormed a castle and scaled the wall to climb in a tower window to rescue me. Now what woman could possibly resist sharing a romantic story like that?"

Picard had no time to find a suitable retort with Vash already climbing through the nearest palace window.

"Déjà vu, mon capitaine," Vash teased softly under her breath as Jean-Luc lowered himself inside the window. Instantly reading the expression on her husband's face, Vash held out the rigged plasma chisel and the phaser to him. "Choose your preferred weapon; a purposely misconfigured power tool or a phaser?"

Picard knew Vash did not relish the idea of causing her young assistant the searing agony associated with being hit by a plasma charge. "I'll take the plasma chisel. You keep the phaser. Just promise me that you'll destroy any of the stone warriors we come across before I'm in a sword fight to keep all of my extremities."

Starting to make their way to the central chamber, Vash feigned a disappointed pout, "All right, but watching you wield a sword always gets me hot."

"That's why we have holodecks with safety protocols." He knew curiosity killed the cat, but he just couldn't stop the words from leaving his mouth, "how hot?"

"How hot do you need me to be, baby?" she purred in a whisper.

Picard shook his head wondering why he engaged her in these verbal sparring matches. It wasn't like he was ever allowed to actually win them. Easily reaching the archway leading to the center chamber, Picard pressed himself close to the wall with Vash crouched in front of him. He cautiously peered into the room quickly spotting Guillermo and Lieutenant Kennely in position in the other two archways with phasers at the ready. In the center of the room Namuras, in the form of Karita Leigh, lounged in an ornate throne on a raised dais. Standing midway between the dais and each archway were three large stone sentries just like they had encountered at the gate. He glanced down to see Vash with her phaser at the ready. "Do not fire until my mark. Take careful aim at the one closest to us. If you miss you're likely to hit your own security guard."

Vash nodded silently.

Once he was sure all teams were ready, Picard signaled to the others at the same moment he whispered to Vash, "Fire."

Phaser fire erupted from all three archways, simultaneously vaporizing the three stone warriors in an explosive cloud of dust and pebbles. Raising his re-configured chisel and watching Lar and Chakotay appear in their respective doorways similarly holding their plasma chisels, he gave Vash an approving nod. "That's my girl."

With Picard, Lar, and Chakotay moving into the room, Namuras stood in front of her throne. "How dare you violate the sanctity of my royal throne room!"

"Namuras, you will release your hold on Miss Leigh," Picard commanded intending to draw the entity's attention to himself while providing either Lar or Chakotay with an opening to fire.

"The pathetic creature you seek no longer exists," Namuras snarled.

As Namuras turned her attention to Picard, Chakotay's finger hovered over the chisel's power supply button about to press down.

"You will perish for you insolence!" Namuras raised her ring hand sending a huge gust of gale force wind howling through the room.

Managing to hold on to his plasma chisel, Chakotay felt the incredible force of the wind throw him backward. He saw the plasma chisels ripped from the Captain and Lar just before he heard the sickening thud of his own body hitting the wall then everything went black.

Aware Chakotay was down and knowing his own plasma chisel had been thrown too far for him to retrieve, Picard used Kennely's phaser fire as cover to rush Namuras. He was surprised when the full force of his weight didn't topple the petite young woman. It took all of his strength to keep her from raising the dangerous ring again.

Kennely ceased firing the instant that his captain entered his field of fire. He did a quick situation check and saw Commander Chakotay unconscious with Commander Lar closing in on one of the plasma chisels but no sign of Guillermo. He moved to a position that gave him a better chance to cover both men, gesturing for Mrs. Picard to stay where she was.

Vash turned from watching Jean-Luc struggle with Namuras to see Lar pick up one of the rigged plasma chisels and yelled, "shoot them, shoot them both!"

'Fire!' the Captain's staunch command reverberated in Lar's head. The security chief pushed the button on the chisel. The resulting plasma charge sent Picard and Karita Leigh to the ground in agonizing convulsions.

Kennely raced to Karita and swiftly yanked the ring off, tossing it across the room to the floor while cradling her tiny, trembling frame. He glanced over at his commanding officer, "Captain?"

"I'm all right, Lieutenant. Merde," Picard groaned pulling himself up into a sitting position. He looked over to see Vash staring intently at the ring on the floor.

The sound was hypnotic and strangely beautiful. A desire to possess and wear the ring, to wield its power washed over Vash. She steeled herself against the draw of the ring, set her phaser on its highest setting and fired. Barely two seconds was all it took for the ring to vaporize in a puff of smoke. "I don't think so, bitch."

"Was Namuras attempting to lure you, Mrs. Picard?" Lar asked.

Vash nodded her eyes not leaving the scorch mark where the ring had been. "Namuras is no longer a threat."

"Vash," Picard wasn't sure what to say or think about wife's vehement destruction of the ring and the Namuras entity.

Vash glanced over at her husband, "you have something to say, Captain?"

The starship captain regarded his wife and deadpanned, "not while you're still holding that weapon."

"I think I should take this for the time being," Lar said gently taking the phaser from Vash's grasp to power it down. "How were you able to fight Namuras's influence."

"You and Dan were right. As much as it wounds my vanity to admit this; I'm older, more seasoned," Vash sighed wincing at the words, "and I'm sure spending two years traveling with a member of the Q continuum didn't hurt either."

"Professor Guillermo, how is Commander Chakotay?" Picard inquired.

"I'm fine, Captain," Chakotay took Dan's offered arm to steady himself as he gingerly got to his feet.

"Easy, Chakotay. You probably have a concussion," Dan cautioned adding with a small smile, "At this rate that lovely doctor wife of yours is going to insist you transfer from the science departments to something safer, like command."

Vash made her way over to where her husband was sitting and laid her hand on his shoulder. He looked up placing his hand over hers his voice gently reassuring, "it hurt like the very devil, but I'll be all right."

Vash bent down where Kennely was holding Karita, "Karita?"

Karita's voice wavered, "Professor, is everyone okay? She didn't force me to hurt anyone did she?"

"Everyone is fine, although Chakotay probably has a colossal headache, his wife will kiss it and make it all better," Vash assured her assistant. She gave the handsome, nearly naked security guard holding Karita an appreciative look. "I have to admit you put on one hell of a show."

Absolutely mortified by the memories flooding back to her, Karita's face went prickly hot. She sat up, pulling away from Kennely, "Oh my . . . Captain Picard, I'm so sorry . . . the ring was so . . . once I put on . . . I couldn't . . . I . . . "

Picard put up a hand to halt the young woman's babbling "It's all right, Miss Leigh. You've learned a very valuable lesson. There is nothing wrong with a little prudence when dealing with alien devices. Once we're back onboard the Enterprise, I want Dr. Crusher to give you a thorough physical. I also insist that you make full use of Counselor Troi's services."

"Yes, Captain," the young woman replied.

Vash turned back to Jean-Luc. "You promised me we'd get her back and we did. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Picard allowed himself a brief moment to bask in his wife's loving gaze. Vash's communicator chirped. Pulling it from her pocket, she handed it over to him. The captain opened the channel, "Picard here."

Riker's voice sounded over the communicator. "Captain, the shield encompassing the entire ancient city has disappeared and sensors are no longer reading the energy signature indicative of the Namuras lifeform. We are back in orbit and can beam you up."

"Commander Chakotay will need to be beamed straight to sickbay for a possible concussion. Would you please beam down three new uniforms for myself, Commander Lar and Lieutenant Kennely--don't ask, just do it." Picard stood up to head over to where Chakotay was leaning on Guillermo for support.

"Damn, he's such a killjoy." Vash teased her assistant with a wink before following her husband and leaving Karita alone with Kennely.

Karita suddenly felt even more flustered, "Lieutenant, I'm so . . ."

"It's Sean," Kennely interrupted her with his most charming smile. "And after ripping my uniform off, the least you could do is have dinner with me tomorrow night."

FINIS


End file.
